Engaged Employees = Business Success

“Employee engagement is the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work.” - CustomInsight

“Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don’t work just for a paycheck or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization’s goals. When employees care-when they are engaged-they use discretionary effort.” -Kevin Kruse, Forbes

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1. Give you their discretionary effort
2. Speak highly of their company, coworkers and customers
3. Are highly invested and aligned with your company’s vision
4. Are emotionally and intellectually invested in their work
5. Support their company and co-workers

Recent Gallup polls say that about 30% of employees in the United States are engaged, 50% not engaged and close to 20% are actively disengaged (working against the success of your business).

What is the current state of engagement or disengagement in your organization?

Research shows that employee engagement is vital to your company’s success!

1. Increase in customer satisfaction
2. Increase in profitability and productivity
3. Increase in quality
4. Increase in safety
5. Decrease in turnover
6. Decrease in absenteeism
7. And perhaps most important to you, less frustrating employee interactions and more time for you to focus on working on your business, not in it!

“Disengaged employees cost organizations approximately $3400 for every $10,000 they pay in salaries.” - McLean & Company

Think of the impact a highly disengaged employee can have on your organization. Not only do they not accomplish the work you’d like them to perform, but they also impact other employees, customers and the success of your organization. If an employee’s loss of performance leads to them leaving your company, you can expect to pay from half to all of their annual salary in efforts to replace them, including hiring, retraining, loss of productivity and impact on other employees. Today, as millennials are becoming the largest part of our workforce, employees are looking for a coach instead of a boss and importance of work instead of just a paycheque.

1. Lack of enthusiasm
2. Obligatory language
3. Negative comments and habits
4. Lack of initiative and perhaps easiest of all
5. The expression on their face

What can you do to create higher engagement in your business? 

1. Clarifying expectations. Employees want to know what is expected of them
2. Giving them challenging work
3. Keeping people informed about what’s going on in your organization
4. Asking for their opinion. Involve and engage people
5. Listening to them and showing you appreciate their perspectives and experiences
6. Valuing them as a person. Show interest in them as an individual
7. Letting them know when and where they can input on decisions
8. Offering them opportunities to grow and advance
9. Giving frequent feedback. Employees want to know how they are doing
10. Supporting and recognizing people
11. Being a coach and mentor. Invest in your employees’ thinking and growth
12. Following through on your commitments

Perhaps most importantly, examine your own level of engagement as a leader. How engaged are you?